Three Meals a Day in Deukryang-do Ep 4

Three Meals a Day in Deukryang Island; Fishing Village Edition 3 Episode 4:

Lee SeoJin: “What are you doing now?”

Eric: “DongChiMi! (Water Radish)”

SeoJin: “Yah, you’re not sleeping and making DongChiMi again?”

Eric: “Hyung, this will be done soon! Really.”

Nothing can stop a chef when he really wants to make food, hehe!

There’s a reason for the mad urge to make Kimchi though – because they’re planning to go fishing tomorrow. Chef has already planned out the itinerary for tomorrow – first, they’ll have a simple breakfast of pumpkin porridge, pack a lunch and like this, they’ll fish all the way till sun down. Then it cuts to KyunSang’s interview, where he bashfully refers to himself as the “Fishing Ace”. HAHA.

He hasn’t been happy with the little fish he’s been catching though and hopes that they’ll get something bigger tomorrow. Ask Lee SeoJin and he’s like, “tomorrow? How are we supposed to know? Hey, this is an eating programme. Other than about eating, what other itinerary is there?” HAHAHHAHAHAA!

 

So with that determination to fish tomorrow, the younger boys start preparing for dinner in the middle of that night while Sir Grumpypants is nowhere to be seen.

Chef prepares all the ingredients for the kimchi and specifically only wants ¾ of a pear. A whole pear won’t do! KyunSang watches him from the side and heh, his kimchi is basically dumping everything together into a container, the end.

Ah, SeoJin has been playing outside KyunSang’s room and scaring Koong-ie. He enters the room with a hammer and a black cloth… and proceeds to hammer that black cloth to their door with nails. You couldn’t find any other less invasive method? Heh, the cats stare at him as he does his work, eyes wide.

After sprawling on Eric’s bed after a while, SeoJin goes off to wash up and sleep. While brushing his teeth, he sees the furnace and tells his underlings to pile it up with wood so that they can light it up fast tomorrow.

 

Sleeping time comes and Daddy KyunSang kisses his kitties while Uncle Eric says goodnight to the cameras. The night deepens as the wood in the furnace catch fire and light up. Clouds pass by and slowly, the sun rises again, just like every other day.

Koong’s the first awake this time and he sits at the door, staring at the smoking ashes in the furnace. Er…

The cuckoo calls and SeoJin gets up. He puts on the gloves he brought from home and adds wood to the furnaces and like he thought, they light up fast. He even goes to the coop to get the eggs and then scoffs when Na PD greets him an early morning, because it’s already close to 10 am. Hehe.

Eric wakes up next and suddenly, Na PD tells them that their neighbour has caught an octopus. SeoJin asks if there’re none in their nets and commands Eric (who’s currently brushing his teeth) to come follow because they have to see this. On  the way, he wonders if they can exchange it for 10 crabs. Pfft. Not even in your wildest dreams.

Their neighbour offers to give them some but Na PD refuses (as always, hehe) and SeoJin is so taken with the huge octopus that he doesn’t even complain while Eric furiously brushes his teeth. Their neighbour tells them that octopuses are abundant around the island.

Na PD asks where their net was and Na PD decides to throw their nets there tomorrow and SeoJin agrees. It all ends with a future clip of Captain SeoJin smiling as he drives the boat in a circle while Eric throws the nets overboard.

 

Once again in the present, Na PD refuses the kind neighbour’s offers to share the octopus, saying that they’ll catch and eat their own. So for now, the octopus has to go back into a sack… but it puts up a great fight, refusing to get off the ground when Eric tries to pull it up, HA!

SeoJin returns to his Chairman-Seat and mutters that the octopus looked disgusting. What are you talking about? That was his first time seeing an octopus.

There’s a problem in their morning plans because Chef Eric expects the trimming of the pumpkins to take a bit of time and yet they (aka, he) need to check the nets too. He asks the Captain what they should do and the Business Major Graduate tells the Chef to work on breakfast. Quickly. Because he’s hungry. HAHAH.

He asks Eric how long he thinks he needs for the porridge and Eric replies an hour. What? You mean breakfast will only be done by 11am?

They split up the jobs, with SeoJin going off to check the nets, Eric cooking and KyunSang finding for more pumpkins.

 

SeoJin takes in the sights of DeukRyang Island on his way to the nets and he even passes by the cabbage field. He smiles to see them grow so well while KyunSang and Eric trim their pumpkin.

Pfffft, the hungry, wandering bear is out in the fields pulling apart sweet potato plants and filling his bucket to the brim with them. He even finds one that’s the size of his head.

Why would you describe pumpkin porridge as easy to cook if you have to chop so much??? Chef Eric prepares the dough for the porridge while Bear SeoJin prepares to walk back. KyunSang wonders when SeoJin will come back and Eric guesses 11.30am. That’s the same time he said he’d be done cooking. He’s still rolling the dough balls though. Heh.

Out in the fields, SeoJin himself watches the time and guesses that Eric is still far from finished making breakfast. Ding ding ding ding! So SeoJin pulls out a random branch and chops it for firewood. KyunSang puts the pumpkins to boil and then helps chef to make the little dough balls.

Eric checks the pumpkin, which are totally NOT done at all. Hehe, the maknae is proving to be learning fast here for he has washed the ladle that Eric was to use without even being told. Chef guesses that they might end up eating breakfast at twelve.

As if he’d heard that, the hungry bear outside ruthlessly hacks away at the poor branch he’d found. Na PD complains that he’s being too harsh and nags at him to think of the tree/branch as precious and worthy of thanks. So when SeoJin continues to hack the branch and it flies into the air and far away, Na PD shuffles over and mutters that the wood must have felt bad, heh.

But soon, SeoJin rides Ericar back to the house, asking the nearby halmeoni’s for help in cleaning the sweet potato leaves he’d harvested. Pwahahaha, he ends up leaving the cleaning of the leaves to a halmeoni while he fawns over some kids. And Na PD nags at him to get married, pfft. Then he asks the kids if they know who SeoJin is. “He’s a comedian!”

SeoJin lugs the pail back to the house and KyunSang tells him that the pumpkins need a while more. Eric promises that he’ll be done with the porridge before twelve and Na PD tells him that it’s now 11.58. He’ll just do it by 11.59 then, he says. Uh huh.

 

SeoJin doesn’t even complain and just feeds the fish in the aquarium with the bug he’d found at the bottom of his pail. While Eric finishes up with breakfast, SeoJin works on the leaves he’d harvested. What’s going on? He’s being so serious about it.

I thought you said you’d be done by 12. Eric is still just stirring his porridge and now mutters, “I definitely said that we’ll make breakfast and then play till noon. Seems like while I’m making breakfast, I’m making lunch too.” Hee.

And that brings back talk about his plans to go fishing today. “Maybe we won’t be able to go fishing today,” Eric asks. Na PD snaps at him for making breakfast this late and all he can do is laugh, heheheh.

SeoJinnie proceeds to make rice and then even prepares the garlic. But he complains that he’s going to faint (from hunger).

Chef really has to pull double duty because he makes lunch too, while he’s still cooking their breakfast. Eric cooks the sweet potato stalks and marinates them while SeoJin cuts the Kimchi. Finally, breakfast is done at 5 minutes to 1 pm. It’s pumpkin porridge complete with kimchi, pickles and sweet potato stalks.

 

SeoJin doesn’t say anything this time, just nodding his head and KyunSang follows. You know you’re out of the woods when SeoJin praises your food. Sir Grumpypants laughs that the taste of Eric’s food never disappoints him. Only how long it takes him to make them. HAHHAHA!

Behind SeoJin, Koong-ie tries to get out but SeoJin won’t let him.

Na PD asks if they’re done with their food. “Now make lunch then!” he orders. And SeoJin quips that even if he did it fast, lunch will only be ready at 3.

Eric and KyunSang lie around in their room and have to constantly keep Koong-ie from leaving the room. KyunSang gives the cats a snack and then leaves them to drift off to sleep.

While they man the fire, KyunSang jokes that they should order in. He talks of Jjajangmyeon and clam soup and SeoJin shoots them in the heart with, “it might end at 5 pm.” Eric suggests Jjajang Rice and then promises that he’ll be done, maximum, in an hour. That includes ingredient preparation time!

SeoJin comments that Jjajang Rice has to go with Jjamppong and Eric quickly puts an end to that day dream with, “then (lunch) will be (ready) at 5!”

Pffft. They get right into making lunch and SeoJin peels the potatos while KyunSang puts the water to boil. Eric sloooooooooooooooowly peels an onion then goes off to cut the other vegetables. The three of them get into positions once again, sitting in a line to work, with SeoJin on garlic duty, Eric on vegetable duty while KyunSang washes the dishes.

Na PD and friends interrogate KyunSang while he works, asking him if he’s ever washed the dishes (some… times, but never this much) and whether he’s the youngest in his family (he’s the eldest son). Na PD: “HA.HA.HA.HA.HA.HA. No wonder you’re so trustworthy.” Pfft.

Eric asks about SeoJin and he declares that he’s the youngest at home. Eric checks that he has an elder sister and Na PD cuts in to add that the guy doesn’t have an elder sister. He just has a sister (aka, he doesn’t treat his elder sister like she’s someone older) and SeoJin comes clean that in his heart, he feels like he’s the only child. Pfft.

 

Work continues and it’s just hilarious to me how Eric is cutting his chicken in perfect, exact sizes. He checks his watch and notes that it’s already 2.30 (HAHAHA) and SeoJin reminds him that he’s still preparing. He wonders about the clams and whether they have to be cleaned. Luckily for them, they were set to clean yesterday, so all they need to do is to wash it. That’s a job for the maknae of this family.

Eric finally starts on the broth while SeoJin tries his rice. He calls it’s unbelievable and Na PD has a try too. Yep. SeoJin has legit become an A-grade rice-cook. Eric goes back to chop more vegetables. LOL.

Eric takes the kelp out of the broth and passes the whole thing over to KyunSang. His explicit instructions are to add the clams until they open, take the flesh out and add the shells back into the soup. Only when they’re ready to eat do they then add the clam flesh back in.

 

With the soup off his mind, he now focuses on the Jjajang sauce. He fries the sauce in oil then uses that oil to fry the scallions. That’s a trick he learnt from working at a Chinese Restaurant while filming ShinHwa Broadcast in the past. He adds the meat and gives them a stir while SeoJin watches everything from his Chairman-Seat. Eric adds the potatoes to his stir-fry, which is the time the clams open in the soup. KyunSang takes the clams out and passes them to SeoJin to separate the meat.

Eric explains that if you cook clams for too long they’ll get too tough. That was a tip learnt from the cooking book he found in the room he shares with KyunSang. HEHE. You mean those books that make up Mong’s bed?

KyunSang follows Eric’s instructions and adds minced garlic to the soup while Eric adds starch(?) water to his Jjajangsauce. He seasons it… and it’s done. He goes over to the soup and seasons it himself, saying that whether it’s clams or meat, if you season it first, because of the osmosis, it’ll lose its taste. The clam flesh gets cut into half (because they’re so big) and added to the soup.

SeoJin scoops his well-made rice out and Eric sighs that it smells wonderful. He ladles his own Jjajang-sauce over them all and brings the clam soup to the table. He brings some cushions for SeoJin too. Like this, lunch is served.

They all have a taste of the soup and neither SeoJin nor KyunSang (or even Eric) can stop praising it. SeoJin eats the Jjajang Rice and says, “this day has come, huh. Such a day (where I get to eat a good meal on Three Meals a Day) actually came. He even gave me a cushion.” It’s been three long years…

Eric asks Na PD if he has tried the soup, because it’s good and SeoJin comaplains that the guy tasted it even before they did. HAHAHHA! He’d brought the whole crew over too! HAHHAHAHA, they even add the rice to the wok of Jjajang sauce and it brings all the guys to the yard. Even the sound director who doesn’t ever get out.

They finally get out onto Ericar at 4 with their fishing gear and pail, cooing at some kids while passing by them.  They leave KyunSang on the island with a fishing rod while the Hyungs go out to sea (to that place where their neighbour caught his octopus).

 

The sun hangs low in the sky and they ride towards the edges of the earth. Armed with the octopus nets and crabs as bait, they attempt to catch octopus, hoping to better their luck by bringing an expert on board.

Back at the jetty, Fishing Ace prepares his fishing rod, sharing that an ajusshi who fished a lot had told him that fishing is all about luck. Hee. He sighs that he has to catch something, definitely, because he’s a “lucky guy”. He immediately gets his line stuck on a pole, HAHAHAHHA! He then reels in some grass. And manages to mess up his equipment. LOL.

But suddenly, he pulls up a flat fish. WHEEE! And he proceeds to call himself the Fishing Master. LOL.

SeoJin and gang arrive at just that moment, walking down the jetty like supermodels or F3, heh, smiles on their faces. OMG, everyone, call KyunSang the fishing master, because he soon pulls in two fish at once.

 

SeoJin suddenly shouts, because he’d found an eel in their net. It’s a 30 cm long sea eel! Pwaahaha, KyunSang is unbelievable. Barely seconds after he throws the line in, he gets another Japanese Whiting. Night falls and the sky turns purple. That’s cue for KyunSang to pull up a Bartail Flathead. This kid’s luck is unbelievable!

Someone in the crew explains that the Bartail Flathead is the piggy of the sea, eating everything that it sees meaning that even fools can catch it. KyunSang laughs and asks if he’s a fool and Eric jokes that if it’s true, that’s a benefit to KyunSang. What are you talking about?!

Koong stretches in his room, eyes narrowing at  that insult to his daddy. LOL, Koong walks away from Mong and Na PD frames that whole thing like it’s a family feud, with Mong being the poor abandoned kid trying to seek acknowledgment from his older Bro Koong who can’t be bothered in the least. What is this made-up drama, HAHA.

Out at the jetty, SeoJin wonders what they’ll have for dinner and Eric suggests raw fish sushi. Pfft, he piles the pressure on KyunSang to get more fish while he and SeoJin head back. If KyunSang doesn’t get the fish they need, then they won’t have enough for three people. So SeoJin demands for meat, heh.

Chef Eric washes his knife while consulting his customer on what to make. He suggests raw white fish sushi, eel sushi, clam sushi and egg sushi. SeoJin the customer rejects the egg. And the clam. “THERE’S NO TIME!”

SeoJin asks the Chef how long he’ll need and Chef replies, maybe 2 hours. That means that they’ll be eating at 10pm. And suddenly, while Eric fans the flames heating his pot of oil, the captions come up with the words, “the thing that turned 2 hours into 7 hours, like magic.” Flash forward four hours from present later and SeoJin pouts, “let’s just eat dinner and then start making breakfast for tomorrow morning immediately!” HAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!! He nags and nags and nags but doesn’t do anything to help while KyunSang keeps asking if Eric needs any help while not being able to help.

A long, long, loooooooooooooooooooooooong time later, SeoJin finally gets to eat and he just says, “it’s delicious. It’s precisely because it’s delicious that I can’t do a thing.” HEH!

 

But bring it back to the present where KyunSang is still out fishing and Eric has only just started. Eric fillets the fish while SeoJin heads into the cats’ room, only to be disappointed to see them both sleeping.

Ah, watching Eric fillet a fish is so frustrating. Well, it can be frustrating or not, depending on who’s watching. But he’s so, so, sooooooooooo, slow. KyunSang continues fishing outside while old-man SeoJin has gone in to sleep, just like the cats. After watching him fillet the Bartail Flathead, we’re treated to scenes of him pulling out the Flatfish. And then a wild SeoJin appears from his room, unbelieving at how Eric is still filleting the fish. HAHAH!

He asks how many fish Eric has filleted and when he hears “4”, he checks his watch and mutters that he did a lot. He prepares the seasoning for the sushi rice then steals Eric’s dark chocolate chips to eat just like that, heh.

KyunSang returns from the jetty, having caught nothing after they left other than an eel that he’d pulled from their nets. That’s a problem because even if they made MaeWoonTang (spicy fish soup), they’d only have enough for one person.

 

So Na PD suggests they cook their sweet potatoes and make Suyuk with meat.

SeoJin mixes the rice with the seasoning, and Eric comes along to correct the seasoning (too little vinegar). SeoJin pulls out a sushi making device from their fans. He stuffs the rice into the holes and KyunSang watches and laughs that there’re really all kinds of things in the world.

While SeoJin busies himself with making the sushi, Eric prepares the broth he’ll make boil the meat in. SeoJin asks for the fish and Eric replies that he hasn’t separated them from their skins. Uhm, WHAT?

So commences the long, long, somewhere-over-the-rainbow long process of Eric separating the fish from their skin. SeoJin checks his watch (it’s close to 12am), KyunSang paces around, wanting to help but not knowing how.

SeoJin: “Are you done?”

Eric: “I did 4.”

SeoJin laughs helplessly because he knows that means that Eric has another 6 to go. HAHAHHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!

The flames of hell engulf their pot and Eric instructs KyunSang to take the dashima out. KyunSang takes the pot off, takes the kelp out, and puts the pot back on the furnace, leaving it near the side. SeoJin notes that it should be a little more centred though so KyunSang moves the pot a teeny-weeny bit more.

SeoJin tells him to move it more. Even though he totally can see the flames about to lick KyunSang’s hands. HAHAHAHA. Na PD complains for KyunSang’s safety and so Captain gets up to pull the pot nearer to the centre using a pair of long tongs.

PWAHAHHA, Eric is finally done with the fish and SeoJin puts them on the sushi rice. He presses the bottom of the mould against the rice on top and produces 10 pieces of sushi immediately. Everyone celebrates it with loud enthusiastic claps and congratulate him on his “birthday”. LOL.

 

They eat the sushi and declare it delicious, like something you’d get from a real sushi restaurant/shop.

Now that appetizer is done, Chef Eric focuses on the Suyuk. He adds Deonjang into the soup to remove the residual meat taste and enhance the taste of the soup. Then it’s waiting time again.

SeoJin looks at Koong who’s lying at the door and then laughs that the camera that was supposed to shoot him ended up becoming Koong’s. So he becomes a one day VJ of Koong-ie’s, who turns his head and looks away. SeoJin likes how the cat is haughty and chic (huh?).

They have nothing to do, so Eric suggests making fried sweet potato (eh… on a fireplace when you can’t control the temperature?) and KyunSang wraps the other sweet potatoes in aluminium foil to bake. He then pours oil into the saucepan… but nothing comes out because he hasn’t removed the “freshness-cap” from the new bottle of oil, HAHA.

Eric continues his work and it takes so long that SeoJin manages to pull out a cooked sweet potato to eat, pfft. It turns out that the Suyuk is not the last of Eric’s menu for dinner, because he’s going to boil noodles too and SeoJin just gives up, digging into his sweet potato. HAHHAHA!

 

Oh mai gat… After a long, long time later, Eric then has the slab of pork done. In that whole pot, he only wanted the pork. SeoJin senses that that their dinner is about to be done. He shuffles around the kitchen to set the table up and when it’s done, sits right at the table, legs crossed, arms together and waits patiently-impatiently like a kid.

The others don’t join him though and SeoJin asks if they have to eat the noodles. Pfft. KyunSang hurriedly puts the water on to boil and Eric asks if they really have to have the whole meal on one table before they can eat. Can’t they eat the meat first then eat the noodles later? Apparently they can.

So they gather to eat dinner (part 1) after a grand total of 6 hours making it. Of course it’s delicious… though it took so long that SeoJin tells Eric to immediately start on breakfast after eating dinner. HAHA! Poor Eric can only laugh.

Nevertheless, they enjoy their lavish dinner and clear everything from the plates. But dinner is not over and Eric goes to work on the soup while Captain gnaws on a leaf. He says that he might fall asleep but ends up just sitting outside and ignoring Na PD’s calls for him to just go to sleep (it’s already 2am then).

Eric tries a noodle… but it’s not cooked yet. URGH! SeoJin, I know how you feel. Hehe.

Finally, the noodles are done, as is the soup.

KyunSang: “Let’s eat!”

SeoJin complains that in that 7 hours, he only ate 2 pieces of sushi, 5 pieces of meat and is therefore VERY hungry now. Well at least you get noodles now. Delicious ones at that. So delicious he can’t say anything.

 

Then Na PD orders them to eat quickly. Because he wants to leave work!

Now that his rumbly tummy is filled, SeoJin asks what’s for tomorrow’s breakfast. Eric replies that it’ll be Clam Seaweed Soup. SeoJin asks if he doesn’t have to soak the seaweed now and Eric assures him that it only needs 10 minutes. Really? Are you sure? Apparently the production doesn’t believe him either. Heh.

SeoJin wonders if they should have Egg Rolls since it’s breakfast. Then he takes a peek at Eric and goes, “pretend you didn’t hear that”. Heh.

After a long, battle-like day in which they made three meals, they go off to sleep, at 3 am.

A few days after that shoot, Eric ends up at a fish market, pulling an eel from a tank. Aw, he’s there to personally learn from the ahjumma how to fillet an eel efficiently.

 

 

 

Next Week!

Eric says they burnt their rice. Excuse me?